A Compendium of American Musicology is a collection of thirteen fascinating essays in three fields of musicology: chant studies, music from the Renaissance to the Classic Era, and source studies from the Romantic and Postromantic periods. This collection by thirteen esteemed musicologists was compiled and edited in memory of John F. Ohl, whose career spanned study and work at Harvard, Fisk, and Northwestern Universities. He founded Northwestern's Department of Music in 1951.
Arranged chronologically by subject, the essays cover the history of Western music from the liturgical chants of the Middle Ages to the nineteenth-century symphony and the tonal innovations of the twentieth century. The collection also includes a biography of John F. Ohl, a bibliography of Ohl's publications, and an essay on Ohl by George Frederick Handel.